"Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy-tale I've ever heard." -Bill Clinton.
Truer words were never spoken. About a week ago I had a severe allergic reaction to the phenomenon known as Obama-philia. I don't think my problem is so much with the Senator himself. I believe he is an intelligent, honest man who also happens to be one of the better political orators I have seen in my lifetime. And in another 8 years I might even view him as being qualified to be president. I guess what drives me insane is the way people fall all over this guy as some kind of great leader when I can't find ONE SINGLE ACCOMPLISHMENT that leads me to believe he knows how to run an entire nation. Sure his speeches are great, but it's rare to hear anything even bordering on actual substance in one of them (Other than calls for unspecified amounts of "more spending"). If you want my vote, tell me what you'll do, what it will cost, and how you intend to pay for it. I don't care if a candidate "lifts my spirit" or whatever drivel I'm hearing from people planning to vote based on their feelings. I view this as a job interview. If I'm hiring a guy to run a factory (much less the world's largest economy) I need more than talk of "hope" and "change" and "bringing people together". I want to know "have you ever run a factory before?" "have you run anything?" "What specifically will you do to turn the business around?". Most of Senator Obama's issue statements on his website use the phrase "put more money (generally not specifiying how much) into _________". Seriously you can't swing a dead cat without reading a call for more government spending. We're borrowing and spending our way right over a cliff as a nation as it is. So what I want to know from Senator Obama are boring, uninspiring details like: "how much are you willing to raise taxes to pay for all of these new initiatives?", "What is your plan to balance the budget?" "Do you think you can handle tough negotiations with somebody like Ahmadinejad, or Vladimir (I call him Vladimir) who are not going to be bowled over by nice words about hope, the way the hippies and college students seem to be?" I'd like to think the tough questions will have to be answered at some point in the campaign, but that may not be the case. He might be able to ride the wave of euphoria all the way to the White House. And maybe he is perfectly ready to be president, but I'm not going to assume that without seeing actual proof. That kind of optimism has burned me once (actually twice) before.
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2 comments:
AMEN and AMEN and AMEN. I think Obama's campaign is a perfect example of how certain liberals make there political decisions, basing them entirely on how they feel rather then on substance.
Also I think that the love affair with Obama will hurt him in the general elections, because once McCain and the GOP start to pen him down on spacifics and contrast McCains record with his especially with the fact that as much as they might like the Dems will not beable to pen McCain as closely to Bush as they would have Romney Obama will be mence meat.
I also think that specifics are the most important thing although I am one who votes according to logic and reason rather then "feelings".
Oh when I read this it was eary I was just planning to write a similar post on my myspace blog but you stole my thunder. Great post buddy!
It's not just liberals though! I've talked to conservative people who most likely agree with him on issues 10% of the time, but are in love with the guy, because they project their own beliefs and feelings onto him. I'm not really trying to bash the guy even, but when I hear grown men say they cried because of one of his speeches, it just boggles my mind.
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